In both `Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte and `Through the Tunnel' by Doris Lessing a child has to fight to keep their integrity and prove their independence.

Although the texts were written a hundred years apart and the social and historical backgrounds are different, in both a child has to fight to achieve independence and has to suffer emotionally and physically to achieve their goals. In both texts a child experiences rejection whilst having high expectations of themselves. Also, both texts show a child that is forced to make difficult choices at the same time in their lives and learn self-control.

However there is one major difference between these texts, which is that `Jane Eyre' is written in the first person narrative and ` Through the Tunnel' is written in third person narrative. This means that in `Jane Eyre' we see a very one sided view point and we...